Why Warriors splitting six-game road trip was about more than wins, losses

There was a feeling to the Warriors’ six-game road trip that was about more than wins and losses. Better than a 3-3 record. Not by a ton, but better. Certainly not worse.“There’s plenty of data, there’s plenty of film. I was just most pleased with after that OKC game,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. “Just felt like our level of fight and competition was where it needed to be. We were able to obviously split the six-game trip coming off that beatdown in OKC. “I like where we are now better as a team, but we have a lot of work to do.”The Warriors started their longest road trip of the season with a 24-point loss against the Oklahoma City Thunder and ended it with a 14-point loss to the Miami Heat. But those two were as different as can be. Embarrassed, humiliated and humbled. That was the feeling of a subdued locker room when the defending champions waxed the floor with the Warriors in Oklahoma City. The Thunder were ahead by 25 points when Steph Curry, Jimmy Butler and Draymond Green went to the bench for good halfway through the third quarter, and the lead was as big as 36 points. A fully healthy Warriors team was beaten before the game even began. You can say the game was over before it started in Miami, too; however, that’s because none of Curry, Butler or Green played. The Warriors also were without Al Horford and Jonathan Kuminga. Though team-wide issues turning the ball over continued, the Warriors’ role players and backups competed until the very end, looking like they might even pull off a stunner in South Beach. The story of the trip, as Kerr mentioned, was how the Warriors responded to that thrashing by OKC. How the veterans of Curry, Butler and Green in particular responded after using words like “sacrifice” and “commitment to win” in a message to the team. Curry with his 46 points on the second night of a back-to-back, and then 49 two nights later. Butler, giving body blows to Curry’s haymakers as his running mate, scoring 28 and 21 points while attacking the glass and keeping the offense going. Green climbing Mount Wembanyama and showing us once again how he’ll never back down. Outside of them, Moses Moody, Brandin Podziemski and Gary Payton II had big contributions in those two wins – either the first or the second. The fact of the matter is, the Warriors also needed all 95 of Curry’s combined points to beat the Spurs. They didn’t need anything from him to beat the Pelicans. The sorriest team in the league was taken to school by Moody for 32 points and eight 3-pointers. Moody then only scored 15 points over the next two games, both being losses. Which also is part of the story from this six-game road trip. When the Warriors get 67 points between Curry and Butler on 56.4 percent shooting, as well as 12 points from Draymond and all the other things those three provided, they should win the game. Yet they couldn’t against the Magic on a night where Moody and Richard, their two other starters, scored six points each. Podziemski (five points) and Buddy Hield (two points) scored just seven points off the bench in the loss. With the six-game trip and the start of the season in general for the Warriors, there’s context to judging them. The Warriors played 17 games before any other team played more than 15. The road trip featured two back-to-backs, and the Warriors played five of them when no other team had more than three. The Rockets haven’t even had one back-to-back, and the Warriors played their 12th road game on the same day Houston had its 13th game in total. “We’ve been bickering about it a little internally. We’re a little bit older. I think we’ll be grateful at the end of the year that this isn’t the stretch that we have at the end of the season,” Pat Spencer said. “We like where we’re at. I think, obviously, we have liked to grab these last couple on the road. But to be where we’re at with the number of games that we played, to knock on wood, have a really healthy team at this point in the season, I think we’ll be grateful we’re not doing this on the back end of the year.”A 5-1 or 4-2 trip was in hand. It also wasn’t the main point. Golden State’s three-man show of Curry, Butler and Green proved they still can bring it when challenged. The Thunder are far and away better than everyone. Consistency continued to be a problem for others, as well as some trends that need cleaning up. The feeling of the Warriors’ 3-3 road trip is that of unsatisfied success. Next up is taking advantage of being home for five consecutive games at a place the Warriors haven’t lost once this season.Download and follow the Dubs Talk Podcast

Why Warriors splitting six-game road trip was about more than wins, losses

Trending News